Kadalundi, Kozhikode: Temple festivities as part of the Ayyappan vilaku festival in Kadalundi turned sour as a tusker ran amok on Saturday. The elephant reportedly got scared when it heard the honking sound of an approaching train, when the festival procession reached near the railway station.
The jumbo, by the name Thrissur Cheeroth Cheriya Rajeevan, ran berserk and finally fell into a damp marsh at Kadalundi river. The mahouts were not able to control the provoked elephant which ran through the Bhajanamadom road and reached the river bank in Kottakadavu.
Meanwhile, Kazhungthottathil Akhil, a 20-year-old youth who was sitting on top of the elephant as part of a ritual, saved himself by jumping off the wild tusker. The elephant which ran berserk and terrified an entire locality for more than two hours reached the banks one-and-a-half kilometers away.
While trying to swim through the river, the tusker’s legs got mired in the swamp. As the petrified tusker tried to swim past, its rest of the body too sank into the bog and only the head and trunk were visible above. Finally, a JCB backhoe was brought to clear the wet mud and make a path for the trapped elephant to walk to the land.
The elephant had reportedly destroyed the boundary walls of two houses. The micro chip attached to the tusker’s body and its other documents were inspected by Range Forest officer N K Pavithran who had reached the spot. A veterinary doctor later certified that the elephant was not in musth and was calm. A case has been registered as per the Kerala Domestic Elephant Protection Law against the responsible parties for bringing the elephant for the temple festivities without acquiring the mandatory consent from the authorities concerned.
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